sjday 's review for:

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

3.0

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Listen. This took me a month to read. Also, I DNFed it at 30% in 2021 and then came back and restarted it for book club, so. It’s been a long time coming. 

The absolute BEST thing about this book is the setting. Shanghai circa 1926 absolutely shines so brightly in TVD that it’s practically its own character. I knew very little about the city before reading this book and I certainly knew nothing about it in 1926. But Gong’s ability to use little images to make a big picture is remarkable, as is her unfolding explanation of the culture and politics of the time, especially the differing tensions between the Shanghainese and the different waves of foreigners that had come in and divided the city up over time (Russians v. British/American & French, primarily). 

The characters! Love them. Juilette is such a mess in the best way, and I love to lowkey hate her. Roma is such a lovesick idiot. The side characters are the backbones of society. 

That! Said! The plot and pacing made me want to throw them all in the river. Things were slow. So very slow. So slow and nothing was happening - not even emotional/setting development, as the same ideas were rehashed about ten times from twenty different angles from about the 35% mark to the 75% mark of the book. I don’t know why the gang heirs are so involved in such weird shit (affectionate) but also nothing at the same time. The fantasy turning into scifi was grand. The ending held the stakes I had been hoping the whole book would have. But the road to get there had me ready to claw out my throat. 

…I’m excited to read the sequel and the companion series